Kimi To Miss Spain After Shakedown Smash

Kimi Raikkonen will be unable to start the Rally de Espana after damaging his Citroen C4 in shakedown. The Citroen Junior driver rolled on a tarmac section of the mixed surface stage.

The ex-Formula 1 world champion clipped the inside of a corner, causing the car to roll across the road towards a bank on the outside, coming to rest on its roof. Both Raikkonen and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were uninjured in the accident, and were able to drive the car back to the service park in Salou. However, an inspection of the damage by the team revealed damage to the roll cage, preventing the Finns from starting the event.

Raikkonen had been expected to do well on the rally, due to its likeness to circuit racing. After being ruled out of the event he said: “I touched the bank a little bit, the car jumped on the roof and [hit] the bank. It bent the roll cage and that’s it. The rules are that we can’t start, there’s nothing we can do. I think I’ll go back to Switzerland now.”

Sebastien Loeb was fastest on the shakedown stage, completing four runs of the 3km stage. The Frenchman set his fastest time of 2:08.6s on his final attempt.